"Blastitude" is a word coined by Angus MacLise, original drummer of the Velvet Underground and quite possibly the coolest hippie of all time. (cf. track four of his posthumous CD release The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda, released by Siltbreeze/Quakebasket. Click HERE for immediate cf'ing.)

(or click on Angus)

 

"...bla's'titude!!!"

We hope you've already read every word and looked at every picture of Cary Loren's ETERNITY BLAST SPECIAL. Now for the regular ish.....

 

CONTENTS PAGE FOR BLASTITUDE #13

Marianne Nowottny -- Weirder, and Better, than Cat Power by Joe S. Harrington
Joe has no idea why this piece isn't running in the Village Voice.
I guess Blastitude is just better than the Village Voice.

Chicago Live Report
Lots of shows, with a lot about OOPS! The Tour.

Blastitude Invisible Jukebox with Lotus
The jukebox is actually visible here at HQ, but our guests don't even notice when I'M on the wheels of steel.

Living Like Burt Reynolds on a Mac Davis Income
by Tony Rettman
This issue's reverie inspired by the new Germs bio...

Load Records Roundup
Check this shit out...

Record Reviews
pg. 7: Monster Island, Monster Island & John Sinclair, Andrew W.K.,
Burning Star Core, Hair Police, Death Beam, Your Lord & the Infinite Soul Tribe, Ace Frehley, Twink, Whitehouse, Lotus, The Sound of Failure, Guns Books & Tools, Magic Markers, Ron House, Phi-Phenomena comp, Havohej
pg. 8: Sun City Girls, Danse Asshole, Mammal, Lethe, Michael Mayer, Free103Point9, Ceramic Hobs, Prince Paul, Nobezaku Takemura, The Sequence meets Spoonie Gee, RZA, and books by Ira Cohen and Alan Licht; Chris Moon on Vajra and The Birdtree
pg. 9: Tim Aher on Ashanti and the Hair Police; Dolman on Angry Samoans/MC5/Foghat bootleg, Black Eyes, Intersect 3 comp, Rocket from the Tombs, Roxy Music; John Ruhter on El Guapo, tu 'm, Roger Smith, The Breeders, Life Without Buildings, Derek Bailey, The Scientific Method.
pg. 10: Carnitas, Iovae, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes w/Spykes, Jean Street, Abruptum, Emperor, Sleep, Lou Reed, The Nature of Systems comp, The Perfect Me, Television

Music for Neighbors by Jared Stanley
With all the 'men's music' out there these days we're prouder than ever to be in touch with our girlie side.

Fiend Records Roundup
An attempted roundup anyway... You try
rounding up 798 different CD-R releases...

Joe S. Harrington's Top 100 Albums
(Part Three: #50-#26)
He ain't stoppin' 'til he gets to number one.

Movie Page
One of our most popular features last issue! (It was because searching for "free naked pics of Hallie Berry" turned it up, but we'll take it.)

I Bought Four Records at the Detroit Swap Meet
by Brad Sonder

Confessions of a Social Alcoholic by Jack Jackson
Perhaps the reader can relate.

Larry Dolman Live
As good a way as any to stop this madness.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

From one Hardcore fan to another:

This email is specifically for Tony Rettman in response to his articles on the Killed by Hardcore records. I enjoyed the article, and I think it's cool that an old folk like yourself is digging that records like that are coming out. Me? I'm a youngen' obsessed with music, old and new, hardcore, punk, rock n roll...whatever, as long as it's got balls. I don't know how up on things you are, but lately there have been a slew of bootlegs and reissues of all sorts of old hc, partly people just trying to cash in on a slight rise of interest and partly fans making shit more available. But what I think stands out about the releases you wrote about is not only are they digging a little bit and finding stuff that even long time collectors and fans don't know about (shit, in the last year someone bootlegged the Negative Approach LP--still available on CD) but there's a level of quality not in other reissues.
        But, I didn't write to tell you that I think it's cool that you're digging the same bootlegs I am, though I guess that's a nice sentiment anyway. You mentioned in the piece that you'd heard about KoRo having an unreleased LP and so forth. Here's the story... As far as I know, I'm the sole source on this one, unless someone else is out there doin' the same digging as me who I haven't met yet. Last January I got in touch with the guitar player, Carl, and we started talking a lot about the old days. He was into the fact that I was obsessed with his old band from back in the day and I wanted to hear his stories. One of the things that he told me was that he had just found the reels for a 30 song LP they'd recorded in their short existance. He said that it was better than the EP and that, yes, I could release it if I wanted. Our correspndance was at times infrequent since he was very sick--Hepatitus C and on chemotherapy (never mentioned what for). Around the time we talked most he was beginning a new experimental treatment. Last I heard from him he'd promised me CD-R's of all of the music throughout his career of music making, including the unreleased LP. Unfortunately last time I heard from him was about a year ago. Recently I edited all of our emails into a readable conversation talking about the history of the band and his life. I printed that in my own zine, "Destroy What Bores You", and it'll also appear in Maximum Rocknroll sometime soon as well as be on the Kill From The Heart webpage. If you're interested I can email that to you, which should fill in any holes that need filling. I've sent him a copy of that Killed By Hardcore boot and of the zine with our interview recently with a note saying that I'm still interested in hearing some of his music, but he hasn't responded yet, and I'm sort of fearing that his sickness may be getting the best of him right now.
        OK, I guess that's all. For what it's worth, I'm not too into some of your suggestions to the compilers of KBHC...some of that's a bit too much on the generic, less than memorable side for my tastes (and TMA and Chronic Sick are way better than all of the suggested). Then again, I'd like to see more South American and foreign records represented on those comps....it's amazing how universal hardcore was--one of it's finest qualities in my eyes was how people from all over the globe were simultaneously making great, pissed off, agressive, balls out rock music. You can't say the same for, say, hip hop, which was initially a US thing...with hardcore you have SS (Japan), Middle Class (LA), Bad Brains (DC), Discharge (UK), Terveet Kadet (FN), and other bands all making hc, unbeknownst to the each other, in all parts of the world. It's amazing. That's it again, for real this time. Rock on, Dave

Dave- Thanks for the feedback and info. I REALLY hope you get the KORO lp off the ground. I also hope you hear back from Carl very soon and that his illness has yet to get the best of him. I'd appreciate it if you could forward that interview to me. I'd like to know just how those southern boys shunned Skynard and decided to beat The Bad Brains at their own game.
       As far as you thinking my suggestions for future KBHC comps. to be generic, tedious, crappy, etc. Well, that's just a matter of opinion. But since I've 'rediscovered' (Or whatever the hell you wanna call it) HC in the past few months, I find myself taking what 'lessons' (Again, for lack of better words) I've learned from listening to other forms of music and applying it to HC. I've been listening to comps. like that first MRR double comp, the first 'We Got Power' comp on Mystic and many more with plenty of 'generic' thrash on it and trying to dissect it the same way alotta high brow types examine folk music and field recordings from 80 or so years ago. At this point in the game, I'm looking beyond what's good or bad and listening to it and observing the different styles from different locales, the confused anger, the all-too-focused vitriol, etc. Trust me, in years to come, when musicologists discover Demented Youths' 'Assassination Attempt', it'll sound just as shit-your-pants scary and desperate as any Dock Boggs track you can pull out your pretentious ass.
        The obsession HC collector kids have with the Mutha label these days is just confusing to me. That label and the whole 'Shorecore' thing was a total joke and the laughing stock of the HC scene around here (N.J.) at the time. I'll admit the back cover of the Chronic Sick record is worth a giggle, but you can say the same for the back of any Poco record from the 70s'...and that's where our circle is completed. Anywhos...get back in touch if you can and/or want to. Thanks again for the interest-TR

Best,
Carl R Snow
Founder, Lyrisist, Guitarist, KORO 1982- 1984

Weasel Walter writes in:

Oh, come on now John . . . way, way too much second guessing going on in your review of my new record. Please, just say what you think. I have no fear or disdain of _constructive_ criticism. However, I tend to take personal attacks at face value. I'm not sure if this is a positive or negative review, frankly. You're really wishy-washy and overly concerned with psychoanalysing some kind of persona you think I have.
        The reason why I spend time addressing my critics is because they almost always fail to actually criticize the music -- they usually have some personal agenda, and you are obviously no exception to this. For example, you barely discussed any of the individual songs, what they were about or what they sounded like from a musical point of view. You alluded to our 'technicality', said that it's "easy to get lost in technique", offering no examples or criticism whatsoever. What are you saying? If someone is wasting the public's time by writing a meaningless review, why is it that I have no right to respond to it?
        For your information, I think that the production sucks on the album -- we've never had an adequate enough budget to do anything but the most half-assed guerrilla recording productions (except for Trauma, still guerrilla, but came out well due to massive favors). It's not a 'style' of production -- it's about having no budget and very few resources. Lack of mic preamps make that smooth, creamy midrange hard to get.
        If you want to hear what I can do with a real studio, see "Yahweh or the Highway" by AOR -- I think you'll find plenty of frequency bandwith there. Also, the AOR records were produced and mixed to AOR's spec's, not mine. I would not have mixed "rough day" or "soak" like they were. Those were done the way the band wanted them to be done.
        Most negative criticism I receive reads like, "At parties, Weasel Walter talks way too loud . . . who does he think he is?" It's as if certain people think I'm really flushed and overly conceited with my own 'massive' success at selling _dozens of records_ or something. Au contraire.

ww

Weasel Walter
P.O. Box 82
Chicago, IL 60690-0082
http://www.ripco.net/~nailhead

Ruhter responds:

Amusing. Your writing is amusement. You are The Amuser. With as long winded as you have proven to be, perhaps you should change your moniker to Wheezing Walter. "Personal attacks?" Maybe Weeping Walter is more fitting. You brought up a "persona." You go around referring to yourself as a Weasel and you are saying it is far fetched for me to think you carry a certain persona? Perhaps Whimsical Walter is most fitting.

"Fuzz-O" Dolman steps in:

Hey, you two. Now, break it up. That's better. Now shake hands. Go on. There. Thanks. That wasn't so bad, was it? Now John, Weasel was right, you didn't describe their music all that much. The review didn't really come to a point. (What, in Blastitude?) But "Whimsical Walter" is actually pretty accurate: we're at a lot of the same shows, and there he's always goofing around. Pretty funny, too. I guess he saves his seriousness for when he responds to critics.

BLASTITUDE is now a quarterly. #14 scheduled for November 1st. A print issue of Blastitude in 2003 is looking very likely.
Comments, recommendations, complaints, submissions: blastitude@hotmail.com
Any music/tapes/books/artifacts/records/documents for consideration should be mailed to Blastitude @ 2158 N. Mozart St. #2, Chicago, IL 60647 USA

writer, editor, designer, collater: Larry "Fuzz-O" Dolman
contributors: Joe S. Harrington, Tony Rettman, Chris Sienko, Brad Sonder, Matt Silcock, Jack Jackson, Chris Moon, John Ruhter. Damn, where's the ladies?

BLASTITUDE #13 © 2002
Published by Tiny Press